Tag: Korea

The RockyMountainNavy boys are visiting Korea this summer with Mom. Before they left, they asked what they should get. I recommended they look for plastic models since I know the the hobby is better supported there then home in the States. Looks like they hit the jackpot, but not how I expected.

The Boys had spent the day at the War Memorial of Korea. If you ever get the chance to go I highly recommend it as this is one of the best war museums I have ever been to. Yes, I place it right up there with the Imperial War Museums in London and above anything I have seen in the States.

War Memorial of Korea – PKM 357 from the 2002 Second Battle of Yeonpyeong and the basis for the 2015 film Northern Limit Line is behind the Type-59 tank.

After the War Memorial, Mrs. RockyMountainNavy had business at Namdaemun Market. While waiting for their item they went into the Alpha Office Supply store. In Korea, Alpha is THE stationary store and the Namdemum location is 5 floors high. Apparently, they don’t just carry stationary and office supplies at this location.

Youngest RMN found a 1/72-scale Russian Navy SU-33 Flanker D. I think he got this one to compliment a 1/72-scale F-15 Eagle he already owns.

Middle RMN found this 1/35 scale German King Tiger (Last Production) kit too. The most amazing part is that both kits cost 20,000 won or less. That’s about $18.00.Even the best Amazon deal online is double that! Now, the RMN Boys know the prices of models (since they spend their own money to buy) and recognize these good prices. So the Boys are pestering Mom for another trip to Alpha before they leave. Mom is only half-heartedly resisting their pleas. I am sure the Boys will come home with at least one more model because Mom is actually very supportive of their hobby. She recognizes that building the models not only is good for their health (very relaxing) but also highly educational. It’s also a great way to spend a winter day when the weather outside is not good.

The Un’er – already famous for his toy tours inspection visits – toured a munitions expo in Pyongyang in mid-April. What I found interesting when looking at the pictures was the ships shown. As seen here, all these ships look to be from the US Navy. From left to right I make them out to be an Aegis destroyer, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and on the far right a Spruance-class destroyer. So what message was being delivered to the NorKs and what does this tell the world? I also note that if one views the KCNA propaganda film that was also released you can see NorK navy ships, but the scales are such that they look huge (indeed, they are built to be larger than the American ships). Is that the subtle message; the NorK navy is still “bigger and better” than others? Once again, I have to wonder just what “truth” is being fed to the Un’er and how his worldview is being shaped.

The NorKs remain defiant, even after their satellite launch attempt failed. A popular mantra in policy and press circles leading up to the space launch was that the NorKs can use space launch technology for offensive long-range ballistic missiles. The space launch failed and the NorKs are looking to regain lost face. So on April 15, guess what the Un’er rolls out at a big parade for Grand-Daddy?

Courtesy AP Photos (news.daylife.com)

A North Korean vehicle carrying a missile passes by during a mass military parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung on Sunday, April 15, 2012. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered his first public televised speech Sunday, just two days after a failed rocket launch, portraying himself as a strong military chief unafraid of foreign powers during festivities meant to glorify his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo)

Oh, since the AP has basically been co-opted by the NorKs (see One Free Koreahere) that caption is less-than-helpful and doesn’t tell the real story. Let’s see how Reuters captioned it:

State media film a rocket carried by a military vehicle during a military parade to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang April 15, 2012. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency and YTN TV later cited military sources and analysts as saying the rocket is a new long-range missile, presumed to be a ballistic missile with a range of 6,000 km (3,700 miles). (Reuters)

Those are two three-stage missiles carried on large, eight-axle vehicles. YTN describes them as being about 18 m long and about 2 m in diameter. That’s much smaller than the TD-2 — not bigger, as the Chosun Ilbo had claimed. (Really, who could imagine a mobile missile almost half the length of a football field?)

Courtesy Arms Control Wonk

Joshua also has an article up at 38 North that he wrote before the April 15 parade that talks about the NorKs getting ready to unveil a new ICBM. Good background information there.

This March 28, 2012 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows North Korea’s Tongchang-ri Launch Facility on the nation’s northwest coast. The image appears to show preparations beginning for a long-range rocket launch in North Korea despite international objections. An analysis conducted for the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says the image shows trucks and fuel tanks, and work underway on the gantry next to a mobile launch pad. (AP Photo)

Those wacky NorKs are going to try again to put a satellite in orbit. Gotta give them credit; they certainly don’t seem to want to give up even after their failure in 2009. They also are apparently trying to be public about this one too. Something to do with “transparency” and being a “respectable” member of the international community. North Korea? Ha!

AP Photo

In this March 20, 2012, satellite image taken and provided by GeoEye, a satellite launch pad in Tongchang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea, is shown. North Korea last week announced that scientists will send a satellite into space in April on the back of a long-range rocket. (AP Photo)

AP Photo

WIDE VIEW OF TOK101 OF MARCH 23, 2012 – In this March 20, 2012, satellite image taken and provided by GeoEye, a satellite launch pad, a white strip near a junction of three roads seen in the middle, in Tongchang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea, is shown. North Korea last week announced that scientists will send a satellite into space in April on the back of a long-range rocket. (AP Photo)

NorK 2009 Launch (SatNews)

Press reports are saying this will be a Taepo Dong 2 SLV. This may be the same rocket that the NorKs tried to launch in 2009. The major difference this time is the likely launch trajectory; almost due south according to the NorKs. This trajectory means they don’t have to fly over Japan to get to orbit – a small technicality that has previously upset the Japanese – and is also very useful for an “earth observation” mission like the NorKs have proclaimed.

The problem is that the US and it’s allies don’t see the Taepo Dong 2 as an SLV, but rather as an ICBM. In 2009, the National Aerospace Intelligence Center (NASIC) published their Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Handbook where they made the case the Taepo Dong 2 is an ICBM. In particular, NASIC stated:

North Korea is developing the Taepo Dong 2 (TD-2) ICBM/SLV, which could reach the United States if developedas an ICBM. Although both launches of the TD-2 ended in failure, the April 2009 flight demonstrated a morecomplete performance than the July 2006 launch. North Korea’s continued progress in developing the TD-2 clearlyshows its determination to achieve long-range ballistic missile and space launch capabilities. The Taepo Dong 2could be exported to other countries in the future.

That “export to other countries” is a worrisome part given the NorKs proclivity to sell arms to shadier nations of the world. The Taepo Dong 2 might be “old tech” but just how much technology do you need to lob a nuclear warhead at a city?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visits the Korean People’s Army Navy Unit 123 in an undisclosed location in this undated picture released by the North’s KCNA in Pyongyang March 10, 2012 (Rueters)

NK Leadership Watch has many more photos and breaks it down a bit more. KPA Navy Unit 123 is located on Cho’do (Cho Islet or Island). A quick check of GoogleEarth reveals several NorK naval platforms located here.

More importantly, this base feed combat power to the area of the Northern Limit Line, site of the Choenan sinking in March 2011. Given all the NorK rhetoric against South Korea, this visit has to be part of an overall propaganda campaign from Pyongyang.

This still image taken from North Korea’s official Korean Central Television Broadcasting Station on Jan. 31, 2012 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un taking a look at the cockpit of a plane during an inspection of the North’s Air Force unit 1017 honored with the title of the Oh Jung-hup-led Seventh Regiment. According to North Korean accounts, Oh Jung-hup was the commander of the seventh regiment of the North’s founder Kim Il-sung’s anti-Japanese guerrilla unit during the second half of the 1930s and was killed during combat with Japanese troops to safeguard the top commander, Kim Il-sung, in the spring of 1940. (Yonhap)

Kim Jong-Un at NKAF Unit 1017

That’s not a trick of the camera; the plane is actually green! In another view here, we can see that the plane actually has a very interesting paint scheme; green tones on the upper surfaces and blues/grays on the lower surfaces. This scheme is very similar to standard Soviet Air Force summer schemes of World War II. Looks like the NorKs at least try to keep then antenna surfaces good for transmitting. And look at the pilot in the brown leather flight suit!

The airplane appears to be an original 9.12 (NATO: MiG-29B Fulcrum-A) variant, most likely the downgraded 9.12B export variant North Korea was reported to have bought from Belarus in 1995. The NorKs are also known to operate the later 9.13 (MiG-29SE Fulcrum-C) with the enlarged dorsal spine.

What you DON'T want to see!

NorK Mig-29’s are rarely seen in public. The first (and maybe most famous occasion) was in 2003 when a NorK MiG-29 intercepted a USAF RC-135 over the Sea of Japan. The aircraft involved appeared to be a 9.13 armed with a drop tanks and what looks like R-60 (NATO: Aa-8 Aphid) short-range air-to-air missiles.